Why Not Theatre (Canada)

Prince Hamlet

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Unfortunately, the Thursday Jan 24th performance of Prince Hamlet had to be cancelled due to the sudden illness of a performer. If you have not yet exchanged your ticket to another PuSh show, or had your ticket refunded, please email tickets@pushfestival.ca to find a show to attend, or you have until Thursday, February 7th.

Shakespeare’s classic gets the update it needs in Ravi Jain’s wildly inventive, radically inclusive production. The Prince of Denmark is mourning the death of his father and lamenting the remarriage of his mother, Gertrude, to his uncle Claudius. Then a ghost appears and sets in motion a series of events that will culminate in tragedy…

Few works of literature have as much to say about what it means to be human as Hamlet. Jain and Why Not Theatre take a play with wide implications and widen them further, drawing more of humanity into the fold and challenging historical ownership of the story. Prince Hamlet breaks through the old restrictions on gender, race and ability, allowing Shakespeare’s work to be told, seen and heard in bold new ways. The production is bilingual, with integrated English and American Sign Language, making it uniquely accessible to both hearing and deaf audiences. Produced in defiance of traditional norms, this is a show that asks who gets to own the dominant narratives in our culture and answers, triumphantly: everyone.